in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother's life. this issue's important to me, but i'm more concerned about the debt our children will be left with. i voted for president obama last time, but we just can't afford four more years. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. . election day only five days away. president obama back on the campaign trail. the first day since super storm sandy hit the east coast. tonight, he's out west. >> we pledge to help those with whose lives have been turned upside down. >> as his republican challenger mitt romney targets swing state, virginia. >> we'll get it! >> the countdown is on and we have you covered. you're watching the news edge you decide 2012, and it starts

right now. thanks for joining us. i'm brian bolter. back to business on the campaign trail after pull putting their swords away the last few days in the wake of super storm sandy, president obama and mitt romney back at it. we're going to start with today on the trail and tom fitzgerald. >> reporter: brian, it's been three days now since we have seen president obama in full campaign mode. mitt romney is restrained by mentioning the president by name. today, though, the candidates were back on their game and back on the trail. we're going to start in battleground, virginia, where mitt romney has been barnstorming the commonwealth with three appearances starting with a rally in roanoke. >> we can't have four more years like the half four years. i know that the obama folks are chanting four more years, four more years. our chant is this: five more days. five more days is our chant. >> reporter: we move to wisconsin after halting his

campaign to attend to hurricane sandy, president obama was back on the stump in green bay. >> governor romney has been using all of his talent as a salesman to dress up these very same policies that failed our country so badly. the same policies we're cloning up after. >> reporter: to colorado now after hitting the trick-or- treat halloween trail in wisconsin, tuesday, paul ryan promised victoro election day. >> in 2008, it sounded -- victory on election day. >> in 2008, it count sounded great -- sounded great. all of this hope and change. it was, unfortunately, rhetoric. the rules -- results were disastrous. we can handle what they throw at us for five more days but can't handle what they will do for four more years. >> finally, we head to iowa where vice president joe biden stopd into a local diner, later taking issue with the recent

comments on women's issues. >> the refusal to condemn the indiana senate orual candidate, richard mourdoch, tells a lot about what they believe. that old expression, silence can be deafening? >> reporter: hard to believe there are five days left. tomorrow, we begin to head into the final weekend of the campaign and today on the trail, november 1st, 2012. we're going to bring in fox 5 political analyst mark plotkin. earlier today, mayor bloomberg endorsed president obama. what does it mean for the campaign? >> reporter: like a collin powell endorsement. he's an independent, used to be a democrat and then a republican. he endorsed it four years ago, tom. if he had not endorsed him, it would have been bigger news. >> we haven't talked about the u.s. senate race in maryland. ben cardin the incumbent running against the republican senate candidate. how is cardin looking in maryland? >> and then the independent

candidate as well. ben cardin, i will eat this glass if he doesn't win. it's an overwhelmingly democratic state. the two people running against him will speak up the -- split up the anti-cardin vote. >> let's look at virginia. cane versus allen. they're in the homestretch and have been neck-in-neck for months now. cane seems to be doing better lately. is that the trend? >> i think northern virginia he comes out, cane does, with a big lead. he speaks spanish and that helps with latino voters. he was a likable, where's a likable guy and popular governor. allen's tried to attach him to brama. i don't think this worked. >> and we're talking about senate control right now. the democrats are holding on to it by a thin thread. what do you see as far as all of the races nationally, shaping up as far as to control the u.s. senate? >> they were worried.

it's now 53-47, democrats and they are defending 23 seats while republicans are defending 10. missouri with akin and mccaskill, mccaskill looks like she's going to hold the seat. john tester in montana, looks like the democrat will hold. they will lose probably, definitely, north dakota and nebraska where bob kerry is coming back, but they very well might pick up indiana, benefit of richard mourdock and maine, angus king who is an independent and will caucus. you probably won't see a change. everyone believes the democrats will remain in control and that is not something, tom, they thought was going to happen at the start of the year. >> and let's look at the road map. mitt romney, three events in that virginia. the president heading out west to wisconsin, on the way to colorado and nevada. what do they do the next few days and what does it tell us about where they chose to

travel on the few days remain something. >> there was a front-page story in the new york times. i think it's -- in terms of the latino vote. the president leads by 50 points and their idea is in colorado and nevada, a state which david axlerod said they would definitely win and a large latino vote in central florida, which is, when i was in the convention, tampa, the puerto ricans, not cuban americans, they want to draw the vote out. they know they're getting clobbered among white voters and this is about 36%. it's interesting that he's going to those states where there is heavy latino populations. they have to make sure that those people who are for obama come out and vote for him. >> fox 5 political analyst mark plotkin. we thank you as always. brian, campaign event cancelled last week by the omagh bama campaign is rescheduled for saturday in prince williams,

virginia. >> you heard the race for the virginia u.s. senate seat has polls showing tim kaine holding a slim lead over republican challenger george allen, 50-46 and that lead is smaller than it was six weeks ago. today, cane joined anchor allison seymour to discuss the race as it entered the final stretch and this is a portion. >> reporter: with five days to go now, and it's been a year and a half at least. >> and that is 19 months. >> uh. >> are you happy with where your campaign is now? have you done everything you could do? >> we have run the race i wanted to run. this is my eighth race and you want to make sure people understand what you're running and working together. i think virginiaians over and over again, in every port of the state, and what they see is a congress gridlocked and won't find common ground. >> run the kind of race where

we emphasized those things. >> in fact, the last two ads you have on now seem to deal with that theme of working together and talking about your record, your past, if you will. >> yup. >> and that seems important to you. >> it is. i have -- and kind of got started in public service when i was a missionary in honduras 30 year ago and that put me on a path to help others, whether it was a civil rights attorney, governor, it was a path i am on. and i don't talk about my opponent and what i hope to do. i did it as a governor working with republican legislative leaders and we need more people in the senate who know how to do that. >> at the level in of the senate, you think you would be able to work with a romney white house? >> i would be able to work with a -- anyone who is present, and

i would consider that any president my partnership. i'm a supporter of president obama. i want him to be elected. my first three years as governor, president bush was president and while we disagreed on a number of issues, i would not have defined myself as a destructionist to the president and we worked together in responding to virginia tech. when the president wanted a line-item veto, i supported the president on that. i will look to partner with whoever is president to do what is right for the commonwealth in the country. >> george allen appeared on fox 5 morning news last week. can you see both interviews on fox 5 d.c..com. the last big push for attack ads w. five days away, tv is not the only place to find them. do they help the candidates this late in the game? and we're monitoring the weather as election day grows near. sue palka tracking a tricky storm system and could cause problems next week. the forecast is ahead as the

special edition of the news edge you decide 2012 continues.  president obama: there's just no quit in america...

and you're seeing g that right now. over five million new jobs. exports up forty one percent. home values... rising. our auto industry... back. and our heroes are coming home. we're not there yet, but we've made real progress and the... last thing we should do is turn back now. here's my plan for the next four years: making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom; boosting american-made energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where... we can, and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. and ending the war in afghanistan, so we can... do some nation-building here at home. that's the right path. so read my plan, compare it to governor romney's... and decide which is better for you. it's an honor to be your president... and i'm asking for your vote... so together, we can keep moving america forward. i'm barack obama and i approve this message.

. the ad war heated up again today. the obama and romney campaigns launched new attack ads against each other. this year, television is not the only battlefront. tom fitzgerald is back with more. tom. >> reporter: brian, we have moved on in this campaign this

year to all different forms of advertising and social networks, on the radio. the both campaigns put the brakes for a few days against direct attacks on each other in the aftermath of hurricane sandy. the spin machines, make no mistake, are back on high speed and taking to each other directionally -- directly. >> reporter: barack obama said he may appoint a secretary of business. his solution is to add another bureaucrat. why not have a president who understands business? under obama, millions of people can't find work. >> wholly inaccurate, clearly misleading, that is what news outlets are calling mitt romney's latest ads, suggesting auto jobs are being sent to china. gm calls romney's ads politics at its cynical worst. >> what you have there are the two latest ads. as you know, tv is only part of this those days.

if you turned on your radio lately, you have noticed a onslaught aimed for and against president obama and mitt romney. >> romney as a millionaire who uses loopholes to pay a lower tax rate than nurses and police. romney's plan makes midel class families pay more. $2,000 a year while giving multimillionaires a tax cut. >> and what would you do now if you were barack obama? you would attack with ads spice and what some call unfair and untrue. ads that are, quote, blowing smoke, go too far and supported my more evidence. >> reporter: so they go back and forth and forth and back. the question here is are any voters listening anymore? even though many have made up their minds, they're growing tired of ads from both sides of the race. >> if i sigh see it and hear it, i will turn it off and go

on with my day. >> i turn them down. i have gotten to the point where i don't want to hear it on either side. >> either side? >> i tune them out. >> that bad? >> oh, yeah. everyone is tired of it. >> reporter: voters may have had enough but cat campaigns are going -- but campaigns are going ahead. the romney campaign is spending advertising dollars in pennsylvania, michigan, and minnesota and could single a new optimism for republicans in those states where they have gone for democratic candidates since 1988. and let's take florida's talk. the last attack, will they persuade undecided voters? joining me now is a reporter for the hill newspaper. playing the ads tonight, i tuned them out when i'm up here. i find it hard to believe they're making any dents this late in the game. what do you say? >> i think that is great, brian. there is so much clutter and people have heard and seen so

many of these ads, that it's difficult for any of them to make an impact. the one think this i would say, though, is that that in itself changes the nature of the odds. you do so outside groups running extremely aggressive ads at this time in the campaign, and in an attempt to cut through all of the other things that are out there. >> and can you see perhaps the after affect, the attack ad and turns the person off that they trying to attack? >> absolutely. that is true. one of the difficulties in politics is running negative ads, yes, it does increase the unfavorable ratings for your opponent and that increases your own unfavorable ratings and the chances of people saying a flake -- plague on both of their houses, i am not going to vote. that is the problem. >> and that is the phenomenon of diminishing return, right? >> and that is why you have to be careful to try and strike a balance between the negative

attack ads and the ads that make a optimistic for candidacy and this is difficult to strike. >> is there anywhere else that they can put their money? like you suggested, i guess, change the message away from being so negative. >> one of the things they can do, as you have already mentioned, is advertise on the radio or on the web and that allows them to target narrower bands of voters. that is a possibility. at this stage in the cycle, both campaigns are incredibly focused on the so-called ground game turning out their supporters, make sure -- making sure the people who might cast a ballot for them get to the polls. >> is that what we're seeing with the ads at the last minute, all of the interest groups tracking down single- issue voters? >> i think so and there is an argument for doing that. by finding the one thing that will motivate them above all others, and we're seen that for several elections. it's intense on this occasion.

>> all right, niles standish, thank you for coming in tonight. >> my pleasure. still ahead, watching the weather as election day nears, like we need to watch more weather, right? another tricky storm system is on the radar. could it prove to be a problem? one part of the country is recovering from send. we know that in the northeast. might make things worse for them. next. next. man: to some people, social security is just a number. but to me, it's money that i earned. i count on social security. and i don't want washington politicians like george allen... privatizing it.

if george allen wants to risk his own money on wall street... that's fine. but i don't want him risking mine. george allen just isn't watching out for us. anncr: the democratic senatorial campaign committee is... responsible for the content of this advertising. could have gotten me one. i did. try the unmistakable flavor of dunkin' donuts smoked sausage breakfast sandwich. hurry in today. america runs on dunkin'.

anncr: every president inherits few have faced so many. four years later... our enemies have been brought to justice. our heroes are coming home. assembly lines are humming again. there are still challenges to meet. children to educate. a middle class to rebuild. but the last thing we should do is turn back nonow. president obama: i'm barack obama and... i approve this message.

. we're monitoring the weather situation nationwide as we lead up to election day. sue palka is in the weather center with a look at that. sue? >> i think the next few days it will be settled and the northeast and mid-atlantic will stay chillier and cloudier, five to 10 degrees below normal and we're going to jump you forward in time and give you an idea of how things are looking coast-to-coast next tuesday for election day. for starters, big section of the country are going to have no problems. warm in the southwest and sunny up to the northern plains and there are a couple of spots we'll have to watch. the pacific northwest showers may be up there and possibly a little bit of snow on the back edge of that chilly air that you see there to the midwest. and the minneapolis area into wisconsin, and we're going to watch places like that to see if a little bit of snow has an

impact on turnout. the chilly conditions, again, through the mid-atlantic and into the, not so much for the mid-atlantic, but we're going to be where we are now. the temperature next tuesday will be about 52 degrees. the same for new york and there well a pocket of chilly air. and there is something everyone knows, we saw sandy and this is no sandy-type of storm. what this is is a typical fall- like system that we sometimes see developing near the coast and this is being hinted at for next tuesday or tuesday night. somewhere in the timeframe, maybe into wednesday and this can form on the coast and get the light shower activity and quickly zip out to sea. or it could develop into something different and grab some of the chilly air we see in the ohio valley in contrast with the warmer air and become

more of a storm that might kick up a wind and for some of the areas in the northeast. i would rather not see something like that on the weather map and not sure what scenario this would take. and how fast that forms and the time. that is what we're watching. sometimes that has an affect along the i-5 corridor and some wind and showers. this might give us a shower and might not. and a coastal concern for next week and the tuesday night stay into wednesday-thursday timeframe that will be watched and we'll keep a close eye on it for you. still ahead, not just the presidential candidates drawing huge crowds, but the first lady and ann romney, their message to voters coming up. coming up. we had a good group of people. good group of employees out there.

this was a booming place. and mitt romney and bain capital turned it in to a junk yard. i was suddenly, 60 years old. i had no health care. mainly i was thinking about my family. how am i going to take care of my family. he promised us the same things he's promising the united states. and he'll give you the same thing he gave us. nothing. anncr: priorities usa action is responsible for the content of this advertising.

prand you're seeing that rightno quit in amnow.a... over five million new jobs. exports up forty one percent. home values... rising. our auto industry... back. and our heroes are coming home. we're not there yet, but we've made real progress and the... last thing we should do is turn back now. here's my plan for the next four years: making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom; boosting american-made energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where...

we can, and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. and ending the war in afghanistan, so we can... do some nation-building here at home. that's the right path. so read my plan, compare it to governor romney's... and decide which is better for you. it's an honor to be your president... and i'm asking for your vote... so together, we can keep moving america forward. i'm barack obama and i approve this message. . if you're looking for a romney versus obama rally that is not quite so in your face, two people who share the names and who are not on the ballot are joining big crowds during this campaign. talking about michelle obama and ann romney. tom fitzgerald is in the web center. the role of spouse changeed for decades and changing again. they're not talking husbands but policy. >> and that is not that longing on that a spouse was basically

relegated in their appearances to women's -- women's political clubs and that is a distant memory these days. both of these women, michelle obama and ann romney are out there talking policy and enjoying huge crowds made up of both men and women. they can be their own step in the first step along forming a political career of their own. they have the skills and have been on display as recently as today. romney in columbus, ohio, and the first lady speaking in jacksonville. >> we believe that the truth matters. and you don't take shortcuts and gain the system. finally, we believe in keeping our priorities straight we know good and well that cutting sesame street is no way to balance our budget. we know better than that. >> and this is a special day for me today.

this is my last day. for doing my came -- on my own. for whatever reason, they kept mitt and i a part for the last, i don't know, month. every once in a while i weave in with him. i have been on the road a lot on my own and this is my last day. >> from here on in, ann romney am join her husband and michelle obama will stay on her own in florida. >> all right, and thank you for joining us on this special edition of fox 5 news edge you decide 2012, of course, the news is always on www.myfoxdc.com. tmz on tv is coming up next. see you back here at